ISLAMABAD: India Study Centre (ISC) at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) organized a book launch event titled, “Pakistan’s Response towards Terrorism – A Case Study of Musharraf Regime” authored by Dr. Shabana Fayyaz on Tuesday. Various distinguished national and international experts attended the book launch in person and virtually.
In his welcome remarks, Ambassador Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Director General ISSI, congratulated Dr. Shabana by giving her due credit for producing a worthy literature and said that her book is a good addition to the literature.
While giving the reference of the book DG ISSI said that concept of traditional security has not transmitted into citizen security and there should be equal focus on state as well as on human security. However, there is emerging consensus in Pakistan on human security and Islamabad Security Dialogue is the tangible testimony of that, he added.
Earlier, in his introductory remarks, Dr. Saif Malik, Director, India Study Centre, ISSI, maintained that the book is a valuable contribution in the existing body of knowledge on the subject matter. To him the most fascinating aspects of the book are the couple of fundamental questions raised by the author which could pave the way for further research especially rotating around the notion of the security doctrine. Also the unique aspect of the book is sources of information and the data collection from the primary sources/ stakeholders and the field trips conducted during her research.
Dr. Shabana Fayyaz, the author of the book and the Chairperson Department of Defence and Strategic Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, thanked ISSI for launching her book. In her remarks she said that terrorism is a very deep topic, the topic she opted for the book isbased on her research on doctoral level. While writing a book, she had interviewed more than 100 people including Pakistani former President General Pervez Musharraf and Pakistani former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. She further said that unless we invest in the fabric of the people, we cannot get desired objectives.
Chief Guest -Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, Chairman, Senate Defence Committee expressed that it is very fascinating to see that a very important part of the history has been written by Pakistani writer. As a matter of fact, such books are mostly are written by the foreign writers.
Dr. Shabana Fayyaz needs to be admired for her valuable work in which she produced very empirical work. In his speech Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed also gave the reference of the book titled “Bush at War” written by Bob Woodward. In this book the writer articulated that soon after 9/11 on September 14, 2001, the US policymakers perceived the emerging threats to the US such as global terrorism, nuclear proliferation and rising China.
The Senator added that terrorism is an indigenous problem of Pakistan and its root causes are internal. While, internal weaknesses are exploited by the external actors. He further reiterated that though we established National Counter Terrorism Authority NACTA, we have not empowered NACTA as yet. And Security has to be refined, he added.
Ambassador Khalid Mahmood, Chairman BoG, ISSI in his concluding remarks said there are many lessons we need to learn from the book. There is a linkage between internal and external security. The emerging challenges of no-state actors require deep analysis. New thinking has to be developed how to counter the new developments in security domain. We have to adapt the realistic approach, he added.
